Any Mechanics?? Too much $$ Mazda service

[Mrs.Milo]

Hi, any Mazda/mechanics out there? Yesterday my 2003 Mazda MP3 minivan starting stuttering, and I took it to a new (for me) shop. I had this same problem 4 months ago, and I went to the dealer where they replaced the ignition coil & a spark plug for $487.00!!! Since I thought that was outrageous and the dealer had just had the minivan twice already prior to that for other problems, I decided to go someplace else this time.

Their diagnoses was $100 to plug in for computer codes, then replace the spark plugs for $77.00 for parts & $250.00 for labor: replace 5 ignition coil boots, 2 gaskets: found that the water pump was leaking & replaced it, flush & fill brake fluid & coolant. Grand total $366 parts + $740 labor. Now is that reasonable?

The car is 6 years old, has 35000 miles only, and now I've put a total of $2400 in maintenance in the last 4 months. I didn't spend that much on my last car which I drove for 18 years, a 91 Honda Accord.

Now is there something special about this van that it's hard to work on or something????? I just can't see where it should be that much. Should I dump this if I have anymore problems?

Thanks for reading.
Lora

 

[Golf4food]

Most auto parts stores will check the codes on the computer for FREE. Spark plugs are cheap and generally easy to change.

I'd find a new mechanic, quite frankly.

 

[mikehn]

Car repairs are expensive, period. Independent shops are generally less than dealerships, but still, car repairs are expensive no matter where you go. Your van stuttering could be caused by any number of things, including bad plugs, bad water pump, bad ignition wires, etc. What you spent on parts and labor for all the work that was done sounds about right. Water pumps are expensive to get replaced. Of course its cheap to do everything yourself, but we are not talking about that here.